The embodiments described herein relate generally to plasma guns and, more particularly, to ablative plasma guns for use in eliminating arc flashes.
Electric arc devices may be used in a variety of applications including, for example, series capacitor protection, high power switches, acoustic generators, shock wave generators, pulsed plasma thrusters, and arc mitigation devices. Such known devices generally include two or more main electrodes separated by a gap of air. A bias voltage is then applied to the main electrodes across the gap. However, at least some known electric arc devices require the main electrodes to be positioned closely together. Contaminants, or even the natural impedance of the air in the gap, can lead to arc formation between the main electrodes at undesirable times, which can lead to a circuit breaker being tripped when it would be otherwise unnecessary.
Accordingly, at least some known electric arc devices simply position the main electrodes further apart to avoid such false positive results. However, these devices are typically less reliable because of a less effective spread of plasma from a plasma gun. For example, at least some known plasma guns provide a plasma spread that does not effectively promote effective dielectric breakdown and reduction of impedance in the gap of air between the main electrodes. Such plasma guns can therefore show a lower level of reliability.